AU Legacy Virus - Untitled
by baldrim
Summary: I'm borrowing the Yellowstone Universe to play around in, no disrespect to original author intended. Younger Marie, learns control of skin, hasn't absorbed many humans or mutants. FeralLogan- gratuitous growling and manliness. Neither hooked up with the Xmen. Everything is strictly first draft. I'll be updating as I fix. My Kingdom for a beta. All constructive criticism welcome.
1. Prologue - Logan

Logan had been alone for some time when he finally came back to himself. He could tell, because the room was filthy with his waste, and his body felt dessicated, like the cheap trucker's jerky sold at the most remote stops in the Northern Wilds. Thirst couldn't kill him, but oh how he wished he were dead. He also knew he was suffering the mother of all hangovers from withdrawing from the cocktail of drugs they had used to keep him stupefied and docile. The dark cell stank of waste, and death. So much death that it oozed from the walls and permeated even the atoms that formed the underground complex. Even with his senses dulled by dehydration, starvation, and having woken up in the funk Logan gagged painfully. The slow crawl to the door was one of the longest journeys of his life, and he had no idea how many times he passed out on the way. The familiar pain of extending one of his claws felt like it should have ended him. The metal dragged and ripped through every dry centimeter of his flesh, and the screams dragged and ripped from his throat in equal measures of pain. He didn't even bleed when it finally emerged - none left to spare.

After Logan managed to slice the lock on the door he made a slow arduous trek to the tiny cafeteria. The sink didn't work, but the fridge had been well stocked with water bottles. He punctured the first one (he hadn't been able to force himself to retract it yet) and let it dribble into his mouth, and then passed out. Logan repeated the cycle of wake, drink, sleep, three more times when he felt the call of nature, which was a good sign. The fact that he answered that call on the decaying corpse of what had been one of his 'caretakers' was probably poetic justice. He was starting to feel a little more himself on the next cycle, even a little bit hungry. That was saying something, since the the stench grew noticeably worse each waking cycle. The protein bars were pretty much all that was left, on this level at least. They'd do. They gave him just enough energy to sponge himself off with some of the remaining water and dress himself in some dead fool's spare clothes.

All in all it took him probably a week to find his way out of the facility once he had awoken that first time. Everyone there was dead, either by the virus or from neglect afterword. The generators powering the red tinged backup lighting had failed the day before he made it out, but by that time he could rely on his other senses. One thing Logan would never forget was the first shock of light and that first sweep of fresh clean air that hit him when he got the last door open. It was night, but it was the clear bright night of summer in the unspoiled mountain ranges. He'd wept then. Joyfully, sorrowfully, hysterically, and then later calmly. But all unashamedly. They were the cleansing tears of a man redeemed. A man saved, who had stopped hoping so long ago that he wasn't even sure what freedom was any more.

Logan had never been happier in his life. Nothing, not the nightmares, not the huge chunks of missing history, not the absence of any people - human or mutant. Nothing could extinguish this fierce inner glow nestled deep inside of him.

When he found the first settlement he made a choice. Logan wasn't ready to see any living people. So he didn't, instead he turned around and headed back into the mountains, and found a secluded area many weeks from human touch of any kind, and he built himself a life there. Occasional scavenging trips gave him the tools and raw materials he couldn't make himself, and the few vices he allowed himself like whiskey and cigars. It was a good life. The house was complete well before the first winter set in and he'd even managed to accumulate some reserves. Logan was content. At least, that's what he thought.


	2. Chapter 1 - Marie VS Wild

Marie couldn't shake the hopeless, frustrated feeling that she was surrounded by food, if she only knew how to see it. The gut wrenching pain caused by innocent looking red berries however, had put her off of any more experimentation. She was weak with hunger and malnourishment now, staggering along in a daze, and stopping only at each creek and stream to lay on the bank and drink her fill. She didn't want to repeat the slow agony of thirst that had caught her in her second week of wandering. Desperation had forced her to drink from mud puddles when the morning dew beaded on tiny broad leaves did nothing to dry the desert wasteland of her mouth. She barely remembered any longer why it was that she had to keep moving, keep walking.

She didn't notice the huge bear until it was already charging at her. She had a brief moment of clarity where she thought, "This is how I end." She didn't feel any fear, only a strange kind of relief. Then she was sailing through the air and a painful second later, blackness claimed her.


	3. Chapter 2 - Romeo and Juliet

Logan had smelled her first. He'd been looping around the edge of his territory and had stopped to drink at one of the sweeter fresh water springlets near his home, and nearly pissed his pants when he'd caught the faint scent her wandering path had left. His senses kicked themselves into overdrive and he analyzed what little data he had. Human. His agitation rose. Humans were dangerous. Unpredictable. He noticed the subtle undertone of 'female' next and his agitation shifted a tiny amount to become mixed with excitement. Logan hadn't even seen a female in months, not since shortly after everything went to hell. He closed his eyes and took a deeper breath, drinking in the intoxicating kaleidoscope of information. This female was in rough shape, but young and generally healthy. There were no other human scents nearby. His nose told him that she had been here earlier that day, and his eyes picked out the clumsy path that he followed without a conscious choice.

His thoughts were racing when he caught up to her. What should he do? Times were different, but he liked to think he had a little bit left of his honor. The thought of taking her unwilling to be his simultaneously repulsed him and electrified him. There was something about her smell that sung to him. Mine. My mate. Her pitiful appearance took him somewhat aback. She was so young! She was frail, and the clothes she wore hung loosely on her gaunt frame. He watched her slow trudging for hours. Every time she fell she got back up and started walking again, he noted with a little pride. His mate was a fighter. Logan went back and forth with himself in his mind, weighing the options as he saw them. If he took her in, there would be no denying a physical relationship. He had to be honest with himself. He'd been rock hard almost the entire time, even after taking care of himself, furtively, shamefully, twice. She looked like she needed taking in though. Badly.

During his third attempt at relief from the aching need in his groin, the choice was made for him. "GRRRRRRAAARRRR!" Oh fuck.

"Oh FUCK." Logan couldn't believe what a dumb fuck he had been, to not notice that they were now deep in the territory of an irritable young male bear who had moved in this season. 'If you could just keep it in your god damned pants, Logan!' He berated himself as he ran full speed, claws at the ready. He saw her fly through the air and heard her head make a sickening thud against a proud oak. Oh god. He was too late. No, no, not his mate!

He roared his intentions to the bear and killed it with one graceful sweep as it turned. He had to reach her. This was his fault. His mate was gone before he could claim her, and it was all his fault. He should have called to her sooner. He should have taken the bear out already, instead of tolerating the iffy companionship. He should have realized where she was wandering. A thousand recriminations burned through his head. She lay there with a peaceful expression, in a growing pool of blood from both the impact of her head and the ugly wound on her shoulder and chest. Her heartbeat was soft. Logan gathered the young girl in his arms. His heart gave another odd pang with the ease. She was tiny. Made out of skin and bones and soft scents. He cradled her carefully in his arms and ran as fast as he had ever run in his life towards his home. It would be ok. It had to be ok. He couldn't take it if it weren't ok.

She was almost gone by the time he laid her gently in his bed, heedless of the blood they were both covered in. Her blood. Logan's breath came in ragged sobs and he curled up next to her. His whole world was ending. His whole existence was shattering, because this slip of a girl whom he had never met, was now dying in front of his eyes. He listened to her heart beating more softly now, and brought a shaking hand to her face. 'Goodnight, my Darlin' Angel.' He cupped her cheek and gasped as the pull began. He didn't let go, not until unconsciousness swallowed him and his arm dropped unknowingly between them.


End file.
